The Season is Changing

Tags

blogging, Christ, clematis, Ephesians, Farmers' Almanac, garden, glorious living, lavender, peonies, priorities, seasons, summer, weather

The view out my windows this morning–puffy clouds, fragrant blooming lavender, a wild bunny nibbling at the edge of the lawn–announces, “Summer is here!”

When seasons change, I’ve learned to appreciate the unexpected. As spring unfolded in 2013, we had unseasonable warm weather in April and record-breaking cold weather in May. While the Farmers’ Almanac predicted cool weather through June, we’ve had warm, sunny days, and signs of summer are everywhere.

The unexpected is evident in the garden as well as the weather. On the positive side, a clematis that I planted four or five years ago has finally decided to thrive. Grandkids have been excited to watch it inch up to the top of the fence, and now we’re looking for the first blossoms.

 

On the negative side, the two peonies that flank my pale purple garden bench decided to pout this year. They sprouted on schedule, but stopped growing at about ten inches, and never set blooms. I enviously gaze at the fragrant, blowsy blooms on my neighbors’ peonies, and frown at my own. Would classical music help? Hymns? Maybe some Shakespeare?

The pace of my life has also changed with the seasons. Just a month ago, our household was expanded by five, including a day-old grandson. The easy access to cuddles and hugs from little ones more than makes up for scattered toys in the family room, random socks on the stairs, and soggy granola under the kitchen table. Now the move-out countdown has started, with renovation of their new place fully underway.

When seasons change, I often need to re-evaluate aspects of my life. As I look at the amount of time I spend on various relationships, tasks and responsibilities,  I’ve decided it’s time to take a sabbatical from blogging. While the  unexpected connections and responses from writing a blog have been enjoyable, at this season, it’s distracting me from higher priorities. I’m sure that there will be times I can’t keep quiet about what God is doing in our lives, but I’m releasing myself from the “have to” of blogging on a regular schedule. In order to focus on the best things, I need to set aside some good  things.

The words of Ephesians 1 in The Message confirm this to me, and I pray it for you also.

I ask (God) to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing (Christ) personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, (and) grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians…

This summer, let’s all live gloriously!

 

Weeds, again (of course)

Tags

attitudes, garden, gardening, weed seeds, weeds

Scratches, scrapes, bruises, and thorn punctures have always been part of my gardening experience. No matter how well I try to protect myself, I always end up a little battered after working in the garden. It’s a price I gladly pay for the pleasure of creating a sanctuary in my back yard.

Yesterday, while Larry stained the fence, I pulled weeds. And more weeds. Amending the beds with compost each year is a double-edged sword. It provides wonderful soil for my flowers, vegetable and berries; and it provides wonderful soil for weeds. Short of continual applications of toxic weedkiller, getting rid of weeds is never-ending work. I’ve considered hosting a “Garden(ing) Party”, offering my friends an alfresco lunch in exchange for an hour of weed-pulling.

It’s always startling to go back into the garden after weeding and find a glaringly obvious weed that I missed.  Apparently I’m not alone in that. On my morning walk recently, I glanced at a lovely purple and white iris. Then I looked again as I noticed several large weeds growing beside it, apparently overlooked by the resident gardener. I was tempted to reach in and yank them out, but wasn’t sure if my help would be welcome.

As my writer friend Carol commented on my previous post about weeds, we can benefit from being connected to others who may be willing to help pull weeds when we’re not able.  It’s vital not just because of the weeds—it’s the weed seeds, as well. In this photo, you could count a dozen flower buds on the prominent weed in the center. If this weed blooms and goes to seed, it could release more than a thousand seeds, each able to reproduce in kind. Some will just land among the iris stalks, others will be borne by wind, birds, trouser hems and sneaker soles to invade other gardens or even other neighborhoods.

It’s dismaying to see the potential “weeds” in my life—attitudes, unconsidered actions, thought patterns—that could affect not only my own “garden”, but inadvertently spread around me. I’m very grateful for those close to me who not only see the weeds, but are willing to help deal with them. In a good friendship, as in gardening, there’s always job security.